Grantas Naujokas of Lithuania has won the Kings of Tallinn Autumn Main Event, turning a €1,100 buy-in into €104,310 plus the trophy. The result, reported by PokerNews, is the kind of story that live tournament poker produces every few weeks: a player with almost no recent cash history on the Hendon Mob database, a deep field, and a payout ladder that rewards the person who simply gets through the late stages with chips still behind.
If you followed our preview of the Kings of Tallinn Autumn Edition, you already know the festival was positioned as one of the Baltic region's marquee autumn stops. Now we have the final numbers, and they are worth looking at closely.
The Numbers: 607 Entries and a €564,510 Prize Pool
The Main Event drew 607 entries at €1,100 each, creating a prize pool of €564,510. That comfortably cleared the €500,000 guarantee we flagged in our preview, so there was no overlay for the organisers to cover. In a European live calendar that is increasingly crowded, with the Battle of Malta and the Rozvadov series both competing for the same travelling grinders in the weeks around it, clearing the guarantee with a few dozen entries to spare is a solid result for a mid-priced event.
First place paid €104,310, or roughly 18.5 percent of the total prize pool. That is a fairly flat top-heavy structure by modern standards, and it matters for how final-table players approach their decisions. When first prize is only about 18 percent of the pool, the jump from second to first (€71,400 to €104,310, a gap of €32,910) is significant but not life-distorting. It is large enough to justify taking calculated risks heads-up, but not so large that the runner-up feels they must gamble recklessly.
Full Final Table Payouts
The nine-handed final table paid as follows, according to PokerNews:
- Grantas Naujokas (Lithuania): €104,310
- Krisjanis Balodis (Latvia): €71,400
- Samuel Adnoy (Norway): €47,850
- Iryna Tsikhanskaya (Belarus): €33,600
- Juhani Hassi (Finland): €25,350
- Martins Poritis (Latvia): €18,950
- Evgeny Vyal (Estonia): €14,350
- Artus Krasnoluckis (Latvia): €11,650
- Julius Kettunen (Finland): €9,450
The geographic spread is itself a story. Latvia placed three players at the final table, Finland two, and the remaining seats were split between Lithuania, Norway, Belarus and Estonia. That is a very accurate snapshot of who travels to Tallinn: the Baltic and Nordic regulars who can reach the Estonian capital by ferry or a short, cheap flight.
A Winner Without Recent Results
The most striking detail is Naujokas himself. Three years ago he finished 64th in the same €1,100 Kings of Tallinn Main Event for €2,200, which stood as his career-best cash at the time. According to the Hendon Mob database, he had not cashed in a live tournament since. In other words, the man who just collected €104,310 had effectively been invisible on the results database for three years.
That should not be read as a sign he was a poor player. The Hendon Mob only records live cashes, and plenty of strong players grind online, in private games, or in regular local events that never get reported. A three-year gap between recorded cashes tells you almost nothing about skill and a lot about how thinly live results sample a player's actual ability. What it does tell you is that tournament poker remains one of the few competitive arenas where an under-the-radar player can walk into a 600-runner field and win the whole thing.
It is also a useful historical reminder. Our coverage of past WSOP and European champions shows how often the eventual winner of a large-field event is someone outside the top of the all-time money lists. With 607 entries, even a very good player has a win probability of only a few percent before the event starts. Variance dominates, and the result is a reminder that one deep run says more about luck and timing than about a sudden jump in talent.
The Runner-Up Story: Balodis's Career Best
Krisjanis Balodis of Latvia took second for €71,400. His previous best cash, per PokerNews, was just €3,830, so this result multiplied his best live score by almost nineteen times. Heads-up against Naujokas came after Samuel Adnoy was eliminated in third place, and Naujokas closed out the match.
The pay jumps near the top are instructive. Balodis had to decide, as many final-table players do, how aggressively to play for the €32,910 difference between second and first. Third place (Adnoy) earned €47,850, so each step up the ladder was worth a bit more than €20,000 to €25,000 until the final jump. That is a classic ICM environment: chips are worth progressively less than their face value in dollar terms, and the short stacks have real incentive to tread carefully while the big stack can apply pressure.
Other Notable Final Table Notes
Several smaller details add colour to the result:
- Julius Kettunen was the first player out in ninth place, but his €9,450 was a personal best by €200. Even the first bustout at this final table was a career-best score for him.
- Iryna Tsikhanskaya's exit in fourth place, for €33,600, meant the final three were all men. PokerNews noted that her elimination "guaranteed" a male champion.
- Evgeny Vyal was the only finalist who did not set a personal best. He had earned €28,650 for seventh place in the 2024 WSOP Circuit Tallinn Main Event, which was a bigger cash than his seventh-place €14,350 here.
That last point shows how many of the finalists were relatively new to big live cashes. When most of a final table is playing for the largest payout of their live careers, the decisions often look more cautious than at a table full of pros. Short stacks fold more than they should, and mid-stacks avoid confrontations with the chip leader. The player who is comfortable with the pressure typically accumulates chips through steady, unspectacular aggression.
What This Means for Players
There are three practical takeaways for anyone planning to play mid-stakes European live events.
First, the structure matters. A flatter payout curve like this one rewards patience through the middle stages, because the percentage of the pool you can claim for a deep run is substantial. Our guide to tournament strategy explains how to adjust your stack-size thresholds as the pay jumps grow.
Second, field size and buy-in make the €1,100 level a sweet spot. It is expensive enough to filter out the very weakest players but cheap enough that a profitable regular can build a reasonable bankroll plan around it. At 607 entries and a roughly 18 percent top prize, a winner can afford to take a few weeks off, but a bust-out costs only a modest slice of a properly rolled bankroll.
Third, do not overinterpret one result. Naujokas winning does not mean he will win the next one, and the lack of results in between does not mean he was hiding. It simply demonstrates that the live scene rewards volume and resilience. If you want to play more events like this, consider qualifying online. Sites such as Americas Cardroom and other networks run satellites to live packages, and our tournaments page lists where to find them.
Why Tallinn Keeps Growing
Estonia's capital has quietly become one of Europe's most dependable poker destinations. A combination of short travel times from Scandinavia and the Baltics, reasonably priced buy-ins, and an organisation that has run the Kings of Tallinn brand for years gives it a loyal base. The field of 607 was drawn from a region where live poker rooms are not as saturated as those in Barcelona or Las Vegas, meaning the soft-field effect is real even though the buy-in is moderate.
For the organisers, a cleared guarantee and a clean, international final table is the best advertising for the next edition. For players, the lesson is to track regional series schedules: events like this often offer better value than headline festivals where the same money buys a much tougher field. You can follow upcoming festivals on our live tournaments calendar and keep an eye on the WSOP schedule for events that carry bigger prestige.
The Bottom Line
Grantas Naujokas won €104,310 in a 607-entry field after nearly three years without a recorded live cash, runner-up Krisjanis Balodis multiplied his career best by almost nineteen, and the whole final table reads like an advert for the unpredictability of tournament poker. For regulars, the lesson is simple: show up, stay disciplined, and accept that a three-year drought and a five-figure score can sit in the same career. For newcomers, it is proof that a modest buy-in and the right run of cards can change everything in a weekend.